After paying $200,000 for a video showing the late Heath Ledger attending a 2006 party where other guests were doing drugs, Entertainment Tonight has pulled plans to air the video after a slew of celebrities including Michelle Williams, Sarah Jessica Parker and Natalie Portman bombarded the producers of news show to stop the footage
According to PageSix, Health ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams had her reps e-mail other celebrities to join her in the fight. Page Six reports:
Paramount, the studio behind "ET," was soon flooded with calls. Scarlett Johansson text-messaged: "As if Heath's poor family doesn't have enough to suffer through." A rep for Johansson confirmed she "was involved." "ET" producers also got a call from Natalie Portman and e-mails from Josh Brolin and Sarah Jessica Parker, said a source.
PR firms representing Sean Penn, Mike Myers and Jake Gyllenhaal also registered their dismay at plans to air the video.
A source who has seen the whole video said at one point Heath said he "used to smoke five joints a day." He then points to his tattoo of "M" (for his daughter, Matilda Rose) and says, "this is to remind me never to smoke weed again."
The news show aired teaser footage during its Wednesday night broadcast and producers planned to show the full tape on Thursday.
But angry phone calls from the stars and harsh criticism from Ledger's publicists made them think again - and eventually axe the news item. Ledger's representative Mara Buxbaum wrote, "This is not journalism, it is sensationalism. t is a shameful exploitation of the lowest kind, to a talented and gentle soul, undeserving of such treatment."
